The Houlton Shiretowners got two rushing touchdowns and a receiving score from Caleb Solomon, and scored 30 second quarter points in rolling to a 44-20 eight man high school football win over the Stearns Minutemen at Houlton High School on Friday night.
Troy Hipsley started the scoring on a 52 yard TD run 4:39 into the first quarter for a 6-0 Houlton lead. The Minutemen took their only lead of the night when quarterback Celeb Shearer connected with receiver Aidan Sanders for a 48 yard score just 25 seconds later. The two also connected on a two-point conversion pass to make it 8-6 Stearns which is where it stood after one quarter. The Shires jumped back into the lead in the second when they did it on the defensive side with Chris Caswell intercepting Shearer and taking it in for a pick six with Caswell also running in a two-point try. Stearns again had an answer as Shearer hit Sanders once more this time a 34 yarder to tie it 14-14. The hosts took over from there with 22 consecutive points before the break as quarterback Isaiah Ervin scored on a 63 yard run, Solomon ran one in for 66 yards, and then Ervin hit Solomon for a 60 yarder that found the endzone for a 36-14 halftime lead. Solomon added a 27 yard TD run in the fourth quarter, and Stearns finished the scoring on a 48 yard run from Zack Doyel.
Ervin was 7-12 passing for 161 yards and one touchdown while also adding nine carries for 94 yards in the win. Caswell ran 16 times for 185 yards to lead the backfield. Solomon had six runs for 104 yards and two TD, and also two catches for 81 yards and a score. Hipsley made 10 tackles to lead the Houlton defense as the Shires improve to 3-0 for the first time ever in program history. Shearer went 10-31 passing in the loss for 2-3 Stearns, with two touchdowns and one interception. Jack Morris had 11 carries for 66 yards, while Doyel added one carry for 48 yards and a touchdown. Sanders made four catches for 104 yards and had two of the three scores on the night for the Minutemen. Houlton put up 628 total yards of offense that included 467 on the ground. The Shiretowners are back in action next Friday night when they host Mattanawcook Academy, while the Minutemen are off next week and host Orono on Friday 10/15.
STEARNS (2-3) 8 6 0 6- 20
HOULTON (3-0) 6 30 0 8- 44
